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Government today approved the proposal to
ensure Rs 1,000 minimum monthly pension under a scheme of retirement
fund body EPFO that would immediately benefit 28 lakh pensioners. The
decision to provide the entitlement under Employees' Pension Scheme-95,
run by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, was taken by the
Union Cabinet in its meeting held here. The move will immediately
benefit about 28 lakh pensioners including five lakh widows. There are
44 lakh pensioners. Earlier this month the EPFO trustees had approved
the proposal. The Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the apex decision
making body of EPFO had met on February 5, and decided to amend the
EPS-95 scheme for the purpose. The proposal was placed before the Union
Cabinet for approval as the government had made funding provisions for
it. The government would have to provide an additional amount of around
Rs 1,217 crore to ensure the minimum pension of Rs 1,000 starting
2014-15. Pensioners will …

Global Vectra Helicorps and Himalayan Heli
Services have been awarded contracts for carrying out helicopter
operations between Katra and Sanjichhat in Reasi district of Jammu and
Kashmir for the devotees who come to offer obeisance at Vaishno Devi
Shrine from April 1. The selection was concluded after an elaborate
exercise for evaluating bids, involving an expert from Directorate
General of Civil Aviation, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) M
K Bhandari said today. At present, the heli-operations are being
carried out by Global Vectra and Pawan Hans Ltd, who were awarded three
year contracts through a similar open tendering process in the year
2011, he said, adding, the present contracts are coming to close on
March 31, 2014. Bhandari said the heli operations shall be conducted in
terms of the contract and as per the approved norms of DGCA, ensuring
against inconvenience to pilgrims travelling by this mode. The two
Aviation Companies shall keep safety and s…

After the government raised the annual quota
of subsidised cooking gas, the Cabinet today allowed consumers to buy
more than one subsidised cylinder in a month. The government had raised
the annual cap on supply of cheaper LPG from nine to 12 cylinders of
14.2-kg each on January 30. It was inferred this meant one cylinder in a
month. This led to protests as households do not uniformly use one
cylinder in a month and some require refills earlier. The Oil Ministry
yesterday moved a proposal for consideration of the Cabinet suggesting
that consumers should have the freedom to book a refill after 21 days
within the overall cap of 12 subsidised bottles in a year. Sources said
the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed with the
proposal. Raising the cap from nine to 12 cylinders will impose an
additional financial burden of about Rs 3,801 crore per annum, they
said. The government had initially capped the supply of subsidised LPG
cylinders to six per hous…

Petrol price was today hiked by 60 paise a
litre, the second increase this year, and diesel by 50 paise per litre,
the 14th hike since January 2013. The hikes, effective from midnight
tonight, are excluding local sales tax or VAT and actual increase will
be higher and will vary from city to city. Petrol price, which was last
hiked by 91 paise on January 4, will cost Rs 73.16 a litre in Delhi
from midnight tonight, up 73 paise from Rs 72.43 at present. In Mumbai,
the fuel will cost Rs 82.07 a litre as against Rs 81.31 at present.
The price of diesel in Delhi will be hiked by 57 paise, including tax,
to Rs 55.48 per litre, while it will cost Rs 63.86 a litre in Mumbai as
against Rs 63.23 at present. Announcing the price hike, Indian Oil
Corp, the nation's largest fuel retailer, said petrol price has been
hiked because international oil rates have risen and rupee depreciated
against US dollar, making imports costlier. The diesel price increase
is in line with the …

Sahara Chief Subrata Roy was arrested in
Lucknow today, after evading for two days a non-bailable warrant issued
by the Supreme Court for his failure to appear before it in a case of
non-refund of Rs 20,000 crore to investors. Capping a day of
dramatic developments, 65-year old Roy surrendered before police this
morning after calling them to Sahara Shaher. "Roy has been
arrested and will be produced in court later today," SP Trans-Gomti
Habibul Hasan said. Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani told a Supreme Court
bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan that Roy is in police custody
in Lucknow and pleaded for recall of NBW issued on February 26. He
submitted that the special bench, which is hearing the case, should take
up the application today itself. But, his plea was turned down as the
judge said it is not possible for the special bench to assemble today.
The day started with Subrata Roy issuing a signed two-page statement,
claiming he was not absconding…

A once-in-a-life time dinner limited to 12
guests will be held atop the world's fourth tallest luxury hotel here to
raise money for a UN food programme. The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai
will host the dinner at its famous helipad, 212 metres above the ground,
at nearly USD 2,722 per person. With seating limited to 12 guests, the
dinner atop the Burj Al Arab helipad on March 13, will give all the
proceeds to the 'Eat and Feed' initiative. The high table dinner is
designed to raise money for the United Nations World Food Programme to
provide food to more than 120,000 children for a day. "In addition to
raising funds in a unique way, the High Table dinner also raises
awareness of the great work being undertaken by the United Nations World
Food Programme," said Laila Mohammed Suhail, CEO at Dubai Festivals and
Retail Establishment. The dinner is scheduled to be the grand finale
of the Dubai Food Festival. The dinner starts with a warm Arabian
welcom…

CLOSING SUBDUED
March derivative series started off on positive note with
Nifty gaining about 0.50%. Short term bullish outlook gets negated only if Nifty closes below 6200..
Nifty spot is expected to encounter resistance at 6315, 6350 and find support
at 6235, 6200, for Monday. . While Global cues
and Funds flow are expected to broadly guide the market
movement, based on the present market position , market can be expected to remain
generally better in the forenoon and
could remain subdued in Second half , particularly towards close.

Nifty 6277 +38Review for Friday :: IT and Pharma stocks lead . .... !!
Market traded in a
narrow range with bullish bias and gained more than 0.50% for the day,
gaining on all the Four days of the week. The week too ended with a gain of about
2%. 32 of Nifty stocks gained and broader market too was positive with Advance
Decline ratio at 1.2 :1. Barring Energy and FMCG, all other indices gained led
by Pharma, IT, A…

Those in power should act like trustees of public goods and not behave like owners.- MAHATMA GANDHI

Hitting back at Finance Minister P
Chidambaram for his postage stamp barb, BJP's prime ministerial
candidate Narendra Modi today said his economic knowledge can be
confined to one word, which is "trustee." "My knowledge about finance
and economy will not occupy even a postage stamp. My whole knowledge can
be confined to one word, that is trustee," he said, recalling Mahatma
Gandhi's concept of trusteeship. Modi, who invoked the Father of the
Nation several times in his hour-long speech at a seminar on new growth
paradigm, said that according to the concept of trusteeship propounded
by Gandhiji, those in power should act like trustees of public goods and
not behave like owners. Admitting that he lacks the knowledge confined
in books, Modi said he can always hire those who are well-versed with
economic issues. Modi was commenting on remarks made…

Prominent players in the-commerce space have
welcomed BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's stance for
pushing for the use of technology in retail. CEO of Smile Group Harish
Bahl said: "We have been appealing to the government to create the right
policies for growth of the E-commerce industry, which will enable
access to foreign capital and allow us to source at scale from small and
medium businesses from across the country." "While we still await some
decision from the current government, we are hopeful and very happy to
Modi articulate our views on the subject and thankful for his support".
Modi made a strong pitch here today for usage of technology to boost
commercial activities in the country and to overcome the fear of global
challenges. "Technology will further push the growth of the retail
sector and not dislodge it and Modi has put this in the correct
perspective. The restriction on the entry of foreign direct inves…

Divergence between rural and urban India
continues to widen, with rural population's spending capacity remaining
higher than their urban peers in almost all categories of spending, says
a report. "Rural consumers are spending more, and penetration gaps
between urban and rural consumers for discretionary items such as
automobiles, branded goods and even monthly outgo on mobile connection
have come down," said Credit Suisse in a report titled 'India consumer
survey 2014'. The report further said despite the higher growth in
spending in rural areas, the fall in savings rate is more drastic in
urban areas, showing the effect of lower income increase and higher
inflation on urban consumers. The survey also highlighted that more
rural people saw their incomes increase last year and even more expect
this trend to continue this year. According to the survey, the
declining trend of consumer optimism observed in the last two years
shows some signs of impr…

SENSEX TO TOUCH 22000 BEFORE ELECTION The Sensex may hit 22,000 level before the
general elections on hopes that a stable government at the Centre after
polls will be able to unleash strong measures to revive economic growth,
experts have said. The 30-stock index is 496.75 points away from its
all- time peak of 21,483.74 hit on December 9, 2013. "Stock markets are
in an uptrend mode currently. Markets are in the process of witnessing
pre-election rally. A clear mandate would be favourable for equities and
it is likely that Sensex will touch 22,000 before elections," said
Paras Bothra, Research Head, Ashika Stock Brokers. The Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE) Sensex and the NSE Nifty hit all-time high of 21,483.74
and 6,415.25 points, respectively, on December 9, after the Bharatiya
Janata Party's good show in recent assembly elections. "Elections are
very important event for the markets. If a stable government comes to
power, markets are likely to scale n…

Investors have pumped in more than Rs 1.6
lakh crore in various mutual fund schemes in the first ten months of the
ongoing financial year, more than double the amount infused by them in
entire 2012-13 fiscal. According to industry experts, fund mobilisation
in mutual fund schemes is expected to further grow as regulator Sebi
has recently cleared its first ever long-term policy for the industry,
proposing a number of tax benefits and measures for growth of this
business. The policy is aimed at channelising household savings into
equities and mutual funds. As per the latest data available with Sebi,
there was a net inflow of Rs 1,59,631 crore during the 2013-14 fiscal
(April-January) as against over Rs 76,000 crore in the preceding fiscal.
Prior to that, a net amount of more than Rs 22,000 crore and over Rs
49,000 crore moved out of the mutual funds' kitty during 2011-12 and
2010-11, respectively. Mutual funds pool together money from many
investors and invest it o…

The government today extended health
insurance support to auto and taxi drivers by committing to pay half of
the premium amount under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna, which provides
smart-card based cashless health insurance cover. Oscar Fernandes,
Minister for Road Transport and Highways, said the Rashtriya Swasthya
Bima Yojna (RSBY) scheme will address the health concerns of auto
rickshaw drivers and taxi drivers, who form an important and vulnerable
segment of the unorganised workers in urban areas. Under the scheme,
auto and taxi drivers have to contribute 50 per cent of premium for the
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna, as applicable in that district, in
addition to Rs 30 as registration fee, an official statement from the
Road Ministry said. The balance 50 per cent of premium would be shared
by the Central and State Government i.e. 25 per cent each. The nodal
officer from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for the scheme has
been nominated, an official statement…

Housing demand remained weak in the second
half of 2013 due to high prices and steep interest rates coupled with
slow economic growth, according to global property consultant CBRE. "A
slowing economic growth, coupled with high property prices and steep
interest rates, resulted in weak demand for housing during the second
half of 2013," CBRE said in a statement. In its bi-annual India
Residential Market View report for H2 2013, CBRE said high vacancy level
and rising construction cost led to a slowdown in construction
activity, leading to a decline in new launches, and further delay in
project completion timelines. Commenting on the report, CBRE South Asia
Chairman and Managing Director Anshuman Magazine said: "Home buyer
sentiments remained cautious and subdued due to high price points, with
preferences shifting to secondary and emerging micro-markets of leading
cities." On the outlook, he felt that housing demand in the high-end
and mid-end, as w…

Retirement fund body EPFO has asked its
field staff to clean up records as it plans to issue universal
(permanent) account numbers soon to its over 5 crore subscribers. The
account number will help those workers in organised sector workers who
frequently change jobs, particularly in the construction sector. It will
help them to avoid filing claims for transfer of PF accounts on change
of job. "EPFO is going to soon roll out universal account numbers for
its members," state the minutes of the recent meeting of high ups of the
the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation chaired by its Central
Provident Commissioner K K Jalan. The number will help reduce the
workload of the EPFO to a great extent. Every year, EPFO receives over
12 lakh claims for transfer of provident fund account on changing jobs
by its subscribers. A subscriber with permanent account number, would
not be issued new PF account number on joining new employer. Jalan said
at the meeting that …

Despite Telangana issue, the Housing
Sentiment Index (HSI) for Hyderabad increased by 22 per cent to 101
points during the October-December quarter, breaking a largely negative
streak to end close to neutral, according to an assessment by IIM
Bangalore and Magicbricks. The IIMB MB HSI is a sentiment index of the
Indian real estate market that aims to capture buyer 'mood' and
indicates residential real estate market performance. "Hyderabad, which
fell sharply last quarter (July- September), bounced back by 21 per
cent amidst concerns over the Telangana issue. North and East Hyderabad
posted positive sentiment this quarter with Hyderabad HSI coming in at
101. South Hyderabad also saw an increase of 24 per cent in HSI although
still ending below 100 (HSI 91)," the report said. The report further
said that 91 per cent of residents in Mumbai intend to purchase flats
(HSI 83), 30 per cent of residents in Chennai intend to purchase land
(HSI 100) while 34 p…

To help investors hedge near-term volatility
risks in their equity portfolio, the National Stock Exchange today
launched its futures contracts on India VIX (volatility index) called
'NVIX'. India VIX is a volatility index based on the index options
prices of Nifty. "Volatility is a different risk class. It has a
tremendous potential as every one has to deal with volatility. Anyone
who has a portfolio, one who needs to hedge the portfolio for
volatility...it could be for institutional or high networth individuals
(HNI). It is a broad base usage of this product," NSE MD & CEO
Chitra Ramkrishna said after the launch. Uncertainty is for everyone.
This product will help in hedging uncertainty. We expect very good
broad-based participation in this product, Ramkrishna added. NSE is
aiming to tap into domestic institutional investor demand for equity
futures and options. The NSE, which constructed India VIX, started
disseminating India VIX index in 2009…

India Inc is expected to dole out a 10 per
cent salary increase in 2014, the lowest in five years, according to a
survey by Aon Hewitt. In 2013, the average salary increase was 10.2 per
cent while in 2009, it was 6.6 per cent. According to the global human
resource solution provider, the average salary increase for 2014 as
projected by over 500 organisations in India stood at 10 per cent, with a
range of 8.8 per cent to 12 per cent across industries. The years
2012-14 are witnessing a sort of "plateauing" in salary increases as
compared to the high double-digit increases in the last decade,
according to the report. "This period reflects the easing off of the
unsustainable, turbo-charged, pre-crisis economic growth. Even though
growth appears to be strengthening in both advanced and developing
economies, it is expected to be muted and slower paced than in the
pre-2008 era," Aon Hewitt India Rewards Consulting Practice Leader
Anandorup Ghose said. …

The penetration of credit cards and personal
loans is very low in Kerala and the state has a huge untapped potential
in the sector, according to data released from the Credit Information
Bureau (India). Forty six per cent of credit seekers in Kerala are less
than 35 years of age. The state also has the highest number of credit
applicants who are over 45 years of age. It also has a very high
penetration of auto and two-wheeler loans, CIBIL Managing Director Arun
Thukral told reporters here. Karnataka has the youngest population with
66 per cent of credit applicants younger than 35 years of age, he
added. The number of applications for new credit has been on a steady
rise and there has been a 150 per cent increase since 2010, says CIBIL
data. This increase in the number of new credit applications and loans
booked indicate an increased demand for credit and a bounce back by
lending institutions in sanctioning new credit after the 2008 downturn.
About 21 per cent borrow…

GENERAL BEARISHNESS
Nifty closed at the highest level for the day and the
Derivative series and closed well above 6200 level. While short term
trend is bullish, there is strong resistance around 6250 level and support
around 6125. Nifty spot is expected to encounter resistance at 6275, 6310 and
find support at 6200, 6160, for Friday. . While Global cues and
Funds flow are expected to
broadly guide the market movement, based on the present market position ,
market can be expected to witness volatile movements and caution is advised at
higher levels in view of the decent run up recently as general bearishness is
expected.. Nifty 6239 +39Review for Wednesday :: Short Covering
Pushes up Index. .... !!
Short covering coupled with value buying in some scrips
pushed up indices and February derivative series closed at the highest level with a gain
of more than 2.50% for the series. Barring Metal and Realty all other indices
led by FMCG, Pharma, Auto, B…

Hyderabad has become the world's most
affordable office locations due to rupee depreciation and fall in
rentals amid political instability over Telangana, according to global
realty consultant DTZ. Four other Indian cities -- Chennai, Pune,
Bangalore and Kolkata –-- figure in the DTZ's list of top 10 least
expensive office space market in the world. "Devaluation of the Indian
rupee in combination with declining rents led to Hyderabad overtaking
Surabaya (Indonesia) as the least expensive market in 2013," DTZ said in
a report. The consultant has released the 17th edition of the Global
Occupancy Costs – Offices, which presents outlook and analysis of the
costs of occupying prime office space across 138 markets worldwide.
Chennai retains its position as the world’s third least expensive office
space market. Pune and Bangalore occupy fourth and fifth position
respectively. "At occupancy costs below USD 3,000 per workstation per
year in 2013, our l…

To check possible misuse of money raised
through public offers, Sebi today proposed to make it mandatory for all
companies to appoint a 'Monitoring Agency' to oversee orderly
utilisation of such funds and to make public their observations on a
quarterly basis. Under the new framework, the Monitoring Agency Report
would also need to list out all deviations from the fund utilisation
objectives stated by the company at the time of public offer, as also
the comments from their management and auditors on such matters. The
Monitoring Agency, which can be a public financial institution or a
scheduled commercial bank, would also grade the deviations observed in
the utilisation of public offer proceeds, which their reports need to be
made public through stock exchanges within 45 days of the end of every
quarter. Inviting public comments on these new norms by March 25,
Sebi said necessary amendments would be made in the existing regulatory
framework to bring about pro…

SCRIP SPECIFIC MOVEMENTS...
CAUTION @ HIGHER LEVELS
Nifty continues its gains and closed at 6200 mark. Thursday,
being derivative expiry day, scrip specific movements can be expected. . Nifty
spot is expected to encounter resistance at 6240, 6275 and find support at 6160,
6125, for Wednesday. While Global cues
and Funds flow are expected to broadly guide the market
movement, based on the present market position , market can be expected to
witness volatile movements and caution is advised at higher levels in view of
the decent run up recently. Being last day of derivative expiry, scrip specific
movements can be expected.

Technology
firm Mozilla has showcased a smartphone prototype for developing countries,
which could cost as less as USD 25 (about Rs 1,500).
The company, which runs the Firefox browser, has partnered with Chinese
low-cost chip maker Spreadtrum.
"In 2014, we are differentiating our user experience and our partners are
growing the portfolio of devices. We are also enabling a whole new category of
smartphone, priced around USD 25, that will bring even more people around the
world online," Mozilla Chief Operating Officer Jay Sullivan said.
Firefox OS devices are the first devices built entirely to open Web standards,
with every feature developed as an HTML5 application. "We launched our
first smartphones in July, and have since expanded into 15 markets. People in
Latin America and Eastern Europe have eagerly upgraded from their feature phones
to Firefox OS smartphones. Sales have far exceeded our targets. But 2013 was
just the beginning," Sullivan said. The devices from…

Korean electronics major Samsung today
unveiled a new range of smart cameras with advanced NFC and Wi-Fi
capabilities priced in the range of Rs 12,490-21,290 for the Indian
market. The cameras come pre-loaded with suite of standard Smart
Mode and Smart Auto Mode features, which allows the user to capture
photographs with an unparallelled level of customisation and
functionality, Samsung said in a release. Smart Mode allows for a
number of different customisation and personalisation settings, while
Smart Auto analyses shooting environments and selects the most optimal
settings for any situation, it added. "The new line-up includes
the WB35F, WB50F, WB350F and WB1100F offering superb image quality and
next-generation sharing capability, offering photographers of all
abilities a great way to capture and share their world," it said.
Besides, the brand new Tag & Go feature takes sharing seamlessly
connects the cameras with smartphones by touching the …

Online retailing, both direct and through
marketplaces, is expected to become a Rs 50,000 crore industry by 2016,
growing at a whopping 50-55 per cent annually over the next three years,
according to Crisil Research. The segment has been growing in India,
with revenues surging from around Rs 1,500 crore in 2007-08 to an
estimated Rs 13,900 crore in 2012-13, or a annual growth rate of 56 per
cent, Crisil Research said in a report. Yet the sector still remains a
nascent portion of the overall e-commerce segment in the country where
the travel business dominates with about two-thirds share, it said.
However, it said, the scenerio is changing fast to pose a threat to
brick-and-mortar retailers, not just of books, music and electronics,
but also apparel and grocery. "From around eight per cent share of the
organised retail market in India now, online retailing will zoom to
around 18 per cent by 2016. But as a proportion of overall retail,
including the massive unorga…

Private
equity investment in the real estate sector increased by 13 per cent to Rs
7,000 crore last year on higher inflows in the residential segment, global
property consultant Cushman & Wakefield said. "Total inflows from
private equity funds in the real estate sector for 2013 was recorded at Rs
7,000 crore (USD 1.2 billion), an increase of 13 per cent compared to 2012 (Rs
6,200 crore/USD 1.1 billion)," C&W said in a statement. Overall
private equity investments across sectors in India have also increased by 11
per cent to USD 10.5 billion in 2013 from USD 9.49 billion in 2012. The
consultant attributed the increase in private equity inflows to "rising
investments in residential assets and other sectors like retail and
hospitality". The total PE investments in the housing segment for 2013 was
recorded at Rs 4,050 crore (USD 650 million), an increase of 42 per cent compared
to 2012 levels. While the number of deals has increased to 40 last year,
compared t…

With the Union government making it
mandatory for all listed companies to have a woman director on their
board from this year, industry body CII's Kerala unit and Institute of
Directors will be organising a three day training course to equip women
for the position here. "Over a period of next two years, we will need
hundreds of qualified trained women to serve as directors on the board
of listed companies in the state," CII Kerala state council Chairman and
Managing Director of Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services C J George
told reporters here. As per the new Companies Act every listed company
should have a woman director. This will become mandatory from this
financial year starting April. CII with Indian Women Network
(IWM) and Institute of Directors will organise the programme for senior
women professionals to become board members. After the training,
certificates would also be issued to the women, he said. As far as women empowerment is concern…

Targeted at fast growing low-cost smartphone
markets like India, Nokia today launched the much anticipated
Android-based smartphones starting at euro 89 (about Rs 7,600).
The company introduced three smartphones, based on a modified version of
the Android, called Android open source project (AOSP), for the X
series. "The X range of phones is targeted at the growth markets
where low-cost smartphones are growing at over four times," Nokia's
Devices and Services Executive Vice President Stephen Elop told
reporters here. Nokia's X range of smartphones run Android
applications, Microsoft services and signature Nokia experiences like
Here maps. The X model will be available immediately for euro 89
excluding taxes. The other two models - X+ and XL - will be available in
early second quarter for euro 99 and euro 109 respectively, Elop added. Nokia X comes with a 4 inch screen and 3MP camera whereas XL has a 5 inch screen and 5 MP camera.
It is for…

Magnamind Ventures, promoted by a group of
UAE-based professionals, opened Kerala's first large scale industrial
laundry at KINFRA's Small Industries Park in Nellad, near Muvattupuzha
in Ernakulam district. The 15-tonnes-per-day integrated laundry is also the largest of its kind in south India. The 20,000-sq-ft laundry complex, equipped with modern imported
machinery, would mainly cater to the long standing demands of Kerala's
bourgeoning hospitality industry in and around Kochi, Munnar and
Kumarakom.According to a recent study, these three tourist hotspots alone account for 40 tonnes of dirty linen every day. Magnamind Ventures will also pioneer into linen rentals for the
first time in the country, a practice prevalent in the West. The company
also has a retail division, which will have collection points initially
in Kochi and Thrissur. This will be spread to other parts of the
region in the very near future. These outlets are intended to serve
household cu…

Samsung launched today a new smart watch,
the Gear 2, after a first version won over few critics, adding new
features and ditching Google's Android in favour of its own operating
system. The South Korean electronics giant revealed the new watch in an
unexpected announcement on the eve of the February 24-27 Mobile World
Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Samsung is unveiling tomorrow its new
flagship smartphone, almost certainly the Galaxy S5, and it had been
expected to show off the new watch at the same time. Besides an array
of features including sports tracking software and a heart rate monitor,
the Gear 2 marks an important and widely rumoured step towards
independence from Android. The watch, available in two models -- the
Gear 2 and the Gear 2 Neo, which has no camera -- will be powered by the
Tizen operating system developed by Samsung with various partners to
break free of the Android dominance. Android powered 78.4 percent of
smartphones worldwide last yea…

Financial wealth in Asia has more than
tripled since 2001 to over USD 80 trillion and if the current trend persists
the growth will be even faster in India than in China. According to HSBC, Asia
excluding Japan is rapidly catching up with the United States and assuming that
current trends persist, emerging Asia should surpass the United States by 2015.
Asia, including Japan, has more than tripled its financial wealth since 2001 to
just over USD 80 trillion, the financial major said. The calculations were done
by adding the value of bonds and stocks to broad money supply and stripping out
net foreign holdings, HSBC said.
Country-wise, Japan and China clearly account for the largest chunk in Asia.
India, meanwhile, might have had a stronger showing last year if it wasn't for
the slide of its currency over the previous 12 months, HSBC said.
According to the report, China, could add some USD 25 trillion by 2018 and with
this it will comfortably exceed Japan's increase in financial…

BULLISH BIAS...General outlook for the week (24.02.2014 to 28.02.2014)Planetary Position :: During the current
week Moon would be
transiting from Moola in Sagittarius to Dhanishta in Aquarius. Sun transits in Sathabhisham
in Aquarius . Mercury transits in Retrograde
motion till 28th February and presently in Dhanishta in Capricorn . Mars
transits in Chitta constellation in Libra. Saturn continues
in Visakha constellation in Gemini navamsa in slow motion ahead of
getting retrograde. Jupiter transits in Retrograde motion (till 6th March
2014) in Gemini and presently in Aquarius Navamsa .
Venus transits in Sagittarius and Capricorn in d Uttarashadha
constellation. Mars and Saturn would get
into Retrograde motion from 1st week of March. In view of these
retrograde motions, market might not be able to have proper trend. As Mercury
is in retrograde motion, it presages dual movement and unauthentic statistics and
unreliable decisions and information. Further, Jupi…